Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-07-10
NAMES OF FLOWERS.
Designations and Legends Connected with
Them.
pl1,J.trIE, T1,,r.

Philadelphia Tine.
The poet Percival has said:
In Eastern lands they talk in flowers,
And they tell in agarland their loves and cares
Each blossom that blooms in their garden bow
er,
On its leaves a mystic Language bears.
But it was not only the orientals who
thus paid homage to ''the stars of the
earth" as theyihsve been 80 aptly termed.
In both ancient and modern literature
we find some beautiful legends Of the
naming OF the flowers, and it is for
the edifcation of the young readers
of the Times that we reproduce
some of the most notable. The pretty spe-
cies of campanula, commonly called
Venus looking. glass" receives this title
from the TACT, so the story goes, that Venus,
the goddess of love, while arranging her
toilet accidentally dropped n Of her mir
rors TO the earth. passing shepherd found
it, and, casting his eyes upon the glass,
which mad the power of identifying what
ever object it reflected, forgot his peasant
love and had no other wish than to admire
himself. The goddess Love, who feared
the consequences of such q foolish infatu-
ton, broke the glass and transformed the
remains into this beautiful plant.
The lovely myosotis has a most romantic
story connected with the origin Of its we'll
known name of ''fSrget-me-not." 1t is re-
lated that q young couple, who were soon
to be married, while walking along the
banks Of the Danube river, saw one Of
these flowers floating on its bosom. The
affianced bride admired it, and, fearing it
would be carried away, regretted its fatal
destiny. The lover Immediately plunged
into the water, where he had nc soone
seized the flower than he sank in the flood.
Making q final effort, he threw the blossom
upon the bank, and at the moment of his
disappearing forever he exclaimed: "Ver-
giss mein nicht," which Englished means
''Forget.me-not !"
According to mythologists, the hyacinth
sprang from the blood Of Hyacinthus, who
was killed by aquoit through the agency of
Zephyr, who blew it from its course rs it
passed from the hand of Apollo, and struck
the unfortunate youth on the head.
The white lily was called Junos rose,
being dedicated to that goddess from the
following remarkable legend: Jupiter being
desirious of raising Hercules to the rank of
a divinity, induced Juno to drink deep Of q
cup of nectar, which threw the queen Of
the gods into a profound slumber. He then
placed Hercules at her breast, that the
divine milk might enter his frame and thus
bring about his immortality. The infant
being unable to swallow rs rapidly as he
drew the milk from her celestial breast,
some drops fell on the earth, and this flower
sprang up from them, to which was given
the title quoted.
The tulip was called by the Turks tuli-
pan, or turban, from the faucied similarity
of It's corollo to the head-dress worn by
those people, who almost worship its ele-
CANT stem and the beautiful yase-like How
er surrounding it. In former times amost
gorgeous festival in honor Of this flower
wa celebrated in the seraglio of the Sui
tan.
In q work entitled 'Sylva Florifern' is
found this romantic fable concerning the
birth of the rose: Flora, the goddess OF
flowers, having found the corpse Of a
~favorite nymph, whose beauty of person
was only surpassed by the purity of her
heart and chastity of her mind, resolved
to raise a plant from the precious
remains OF this daughter of the
Dryads, or wood nymphs, for which
purpose she begged the assistance
of Venus and the Gfaces, as well rs of all
the deities that preside over gardens to as
sist in the transformation OF the nymph
into q flower that wa TO be by them pro-
claimed queen of all the painted beauties.
The ceremony was attended by the
zephyrs, who cleared the atmosphere, in
order that Apollo might bless the newly
created progeny by his means. Bacchus
supplied rivers of nectar to nOurish 1t, and
Vertumnus, the god of the seasons poured
his choicest perfumes over. the plant,
When the metamorphosis was complete,
Pomona strewed her fruit over the
young branches, which were then crown
ed by Flora with n diadem that had
been . ~purposely prepared by the celes
tials to distinguish this queen OF
flowers. Other authorities state that
Cupid, in a feast on Olympus, the abode Of
the gods, in the midst of lively dance,
overturned with a brush of his wing o
cupful of nectar. This precious liquid,
falling upon the rose, endowed il with the
delicious fragrance which still distinguishes
it. Tom Moore gives n poctical reason fol
the beauty and fragrance OF the rose wher
he says:
They tell us that Love in his fairy bower
Had two blush roses of birth divine;
lie sprinkled the one with Il rainbow's shower,
But bathed the other with mantiing wine.
The daisy gets its name from n Saxon
word signifying days eye in which way
the great Ben Jonson writes it, and it il
called by Chauccr the 'eie of the daie.'
In all probability it received this nam,
from the fact that the blossom opens q
daybreak aud closes at sunset.
The ~wall-hower, which is often fount
growing over ruins in solitary beauty, il
so called on account Of its clinging to wall:
or ornamenting moldering tablets in grave
yards.
The wandering minstrels Of long ago car
ried a branch OF this plant rs the emblem
of affection that continues through all time
and Survives every misfortune.
The heliotrope was so named by the cele
brated botanist Jussieu. Noticing that it
flower turned to the sun, he gave it the
title it bears, derived from two Greek
words signifying ''the sun" and 81 turn
The seeds were collected by him in tn,
Cordilleras of Peru, and sent to the Jardii
du Roi, Paris, where the plant was culti
waited in Europe.
Pansy is a corruption Of the French pen.
see, thought, the beautiful flower being
dedicated to that sentiment.
The Narcissus is 50 called, Ovid tells
us, from a beautiful NEUROLOGICAL youth
bearing that name. A thousand nymphs
loved him in vain. One day he caught Q
glimpse of his features in a fountain, fell
in.love with them and pinned away, unable
to leave the spot. The gods, in compassion.
changed him into the flower named.
These, to be sure, are in the main merely
imaginary ideas, but IL is not surprising
that such romantic notions should be
evolved when gazing upon one Of the
greatest blessings our Creator, has given rs
made solely to gladden. the heart o.
man, TO serve as n light 10 his eyes, for
living inspiration of grace to his spirit, fo
a perpetual admiration"